July 9, 2003
LAS VEGAS - Buddy Gouldsmith, who has spent the past two seasons at UNLV as an assistant baseball coach has been hired as the program's head coach, interim athletics director Fred Albrecht announced Wednesday.
Gouldsmith replaces Jim Schlossnagle, UNLV's head coach for the past two seasons (2002-03), who has been named head coach at Texas Christian University.
"I am pleased with Buddy's appointment as head coach," said UNLV President Carol Harter. "He brings many years of experience at the Division I level and has worked closely with Coach Schlossnagle in moving this program forward. I am confident that under his direction the team will continue the excellent progress shown over the past two seasons."
The Rebels were 47-17 this past season and earned their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in seven years (last trip was in 1996). The squad also won its first regular season conference championship in program history and won the Mountain West Conference Tournament title to earn the NCAA automatic berth.
Gouldsmith becomes the sixth head coach in UNLV baseball history. As an assistant at UNLV, Gouldsmith served as hitting instructor. Under his guidance, the Rebels hit .324 as a team this past season and in 2002 had the MWC's batting champion and a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American in Joe Wickman (.490 batting average in conference play).
"I am very pleased with the direction in which Buddy has helped take this program," Albrecht said. "It is headed in the right direction and keeping the continuity in place was a very important factor in this decision. I am convinced that Buddy will continue to take this program forward."
"I am grateful to have this opportunity," Gouldsmith said. "I am very happy to be here and am excited about the direction of our program. This is where I want to be. Everything is in place here, this is what I have recruited to and we have been very successful. I look forward to continuing that success in the future."
Before coming to UNLV, he served as hitting instructor and third base coach at Tulane University for four years. Gouldsmith helped lead Tulane to its first ever College World Series appearance in 2001.
Before coaching at Tulane, Gouldsmith was an assistant coach for five years at American River College in California. In addition to his coaching duties, he acted as an associate scout for the San Francisco Giants from 1994-97.
From 1992-93, Gouldsmith was an assistant coach at Cosumnes River College and was the head coach of the Charles Eggen American Legion team from 1990-94.
A native of Sacramento, Calif., Gouldsmith graduated from California State University at Sacramento with a degree in business administration. He received his master's degree in sport management in 1996 from the United States Sports Academy. He played at American River Junior College from 1987-89 and also attended California State University at Chico (Chico State).
Gouldsmith, 35, and his wife, Heather, have two sons and are expecting a third child in the coming months.
UNLV Baseball Coaching HistoryYear Coach Record1960-66 Chub Drakulich Records Incomplete1967-73 Bob Doering 158-127-3 (.554)1974-96 Fred Dallimore 794-558-2 (.587)1997-01 Rod Soesbe 129-155 (.454)2001-03 Jim Schlossnagle 77-47 (.621)2003-pres. Buddy Gouldsmith
